How are the mighty fallen! For starters, who would have rightly predicted that the German machine, defending champion and four-time winner of the World Cup, would not survive the first round in Russia? Incredible. But that is what has happened now. The German machine has gone back to Berlin. How about Argentina? The two-time champs crashed out in the Second Round, the Round of 16. And all the celebration following the Argentines qualification at the expenseof Nigeria have fizzled out.
Those who say that the World Cup is a two-horse race between Europe and South America have a strong and valid point. After the play-offs and the Group of 16, the teams from other confederations were knocked off. Africa’s five representatives fell out in the first round. The eight remaining teams are either from South America or from Uruguay.
Apart from Brazil, England and France, the other quarter-finalists have not won the modern World Cup. Action resumes this Friday (today) as the 1930 champs, Uruguay, takes on France in the first match. The second match today will be between the five-time champs, Brazil, and Belgium. Tomorrow, Saturday, July 7, Sweden will trade tackles with England while hosts, Russia will square up with Croatia.
The winner of the Uruguay/France tie will face the winner of the match between Brazil and Belgium in the first semi-final. An unusual phenomenom is that if Uruguay loses to France and Brazil loses to Belgium, South America would be missing from the very last match on July 15. What is clear is that the hisses, the misses, the agonies of defeat and the excitement of triump will remain among soccer fans around the globe till the final whistle. The picture will get clearer by the time of our publication next Friday.
